New toon from The Jongleurs

Armistice

Armistice

Son of Yoda
Hi y'all

New tune I've just finished a prelim mix on. Anyone up to comment?

I haven't listened to it in the cold light of day yet, so I'm expecting some tweaking to be necessary, but I've heard it too many times tonight now to have objective ears...

**Acoustic guitar warning**

(I'm Not Afraid Of) The Dark

Listening on my home stereo I'd turn the bass down a notch (and probably compress it a bit more to even it out) and the drums up a notch, but it sort of sounds ok on my monitors.. and I'm aware of the plectrum strikes on the wood of the acoustic guitars in various places - at this stage I'm telling myself it adds character until I work out what I can do about them... if anything...

**EDIT - I've just put up a new mix, hopefully taking a few rougher edges off...**

Cheers

Lyrics for the lyrically minded:

(I'm Not Afraid Of) The Dark

Babe the lights went out too soon, I'm not afraid of the dark
Too little sun and too much moon, I'm not afraid of the dark
And so I penned this lost love tune, I'm not afraid of the dark
Except sometimes

Babe it shouldn't be like this, I'm not afraid of the dark
Love is just so hit and miss, I'm not afraid of the dark
Still we set out in search of bliss, I'm not afraid of the dark
Except sometimes, except sometimes, except sometimes

I'm sure it's been said much better before
A million songs have been sung
I struggle and I search but I never find the perfect rhyme
It was there on the tip of my tongue

The words they just evaporate, I'm not afraid of the dark
I learnt it all but much too late, I'm not afraid of the dark
And so it seems this is our fate, I'm not afraid of the dark
Except sometimes, except sometimes, except sometimes, except sometimes, except sometimes

I am not afraid, I am not afraid, I am not afraid, I am not afraid
I am not afraid, I am not afraid, I am not afaird, I am not afraid of the dark
 
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WOW!! Really refreshing David. This has all the making of a great song about 99% of the way there.
I like the wha-wha guitar in the break then was pleasantly surprised by the reverse tracking of it - is that an effect or manual manipulation within the DAW?
Good complex multi vocal tacks at the end of the song.
Everything here has the makings of a very successful commercial hit song. Dang good job!

Now tell me did this one just pop out of you or was it months in the making?
 
Sounds decent from this PC but it has crappy speakers - I am heading down to the studio - will check it out on the monitors.

Cool lyrics.

So.. are you afraid of the dark?
 
Thanks guys...

Henry, the backwards thing evolved out of the live version of the song - as you know there's just two of us and acoustic guitars and fiendish looper pedal, one of the features of which is a reverse loop... so I start that song by playing the chord sequence backwards and then the looper revereses it so it's in the right order but with backwards sound, and I layer other bits on top, including the wah wah guitar etc. - just did the same thing here, plugged it in, did a sample and just let it play along where necessary.... but using an electric, not an acoustic, and via amp/mic etc.

And the wah wah and reverse are separate tracks. I wrote it a couple of years back and did a crap recording a couple of years ago, always wanted to do a better one...

And no, accadakka.... not afraid of the dark.... except sometimes. :D
 
Great tune man. Love that riff! My only tiff would be the vocals not sitting well in the mix. I tend to mix in a more pop/rock setting, so my opinion probably means nothing anyway. I really like your tunes though. I need to expand my horizons for sure.

Nice work Armi!
 
moresound said:
Got any ideas for a video on this one yet?
Click to expand...

I though I might video us up against the wall in my apartment then cut in some photos and use lots of psychedelic effects... :eek:

Oh wait, I've already done that... :yawn:

Not really - I want to work with Richard on one of his songs, as it's always mine that get finalised for reasons I'm sure I've mentioned to you... so I'll have to give it some thought... while I'm spending all my time on his new toon.

Had a listen to mix #2 - just bumped a few sliders around randomly and I think it's the better for it... :laughings:


God I hate it when laughing smiley disappears from the esay pick list...



Anyone else out there??.... I want someone to tell me it's unbalanced and needs a cut around 320 or my kick drum sounds like ass, or SOMETHING.... otherwise I'll assume it's all OK and post it up on my sites... and it just can't be that good.. ;)
 
Nice tune Armistice - I like the subtle experimental thing you've got with the backward and wah wah guitar underpinning a good pop melody. All sounded fine and balanced to me.
 
Armistice said:
Anyone else out there??.... I want someone to tell me it's unbalanced and needs a cut around 320 or my kick drum sounds like ass, or SOMETHING.... otherwise I'll assume it's all OK and post it up on my sites... and it just can't be that good.. ;)
Click to expand...



Maybe just a thought ..... Add something exotic to the mix from virtual instruments. strings, horns? I don't know, what ever hits your fancy.
Just something fitting along the theme of the song - Not afraid of the dark.
 
Sounds like a great mix to me man. I don't know what you've tweaked since the initial mix, but I think the bass sounds really nice. It has a nice sub pulse to it or whatever, yet still very clear. I got nothin' for you here...sorry.
 
Armistice,
Cool intro.
In some ways it reminds me of early Oils acoustic.
Good vocals blends - not obvious options & they work.
The b/ward & wah are great colours - you've not use a trowel to add them!
I've saved this one - hope that's alright.
 
Awesome, Armistice! Excellent guitar work, smooth atmosphere, cool extended intro, and nice vocals/harmonies. Your music has elements of some late 70s-early 80s soft rock by a group called Firefall. Good stuff.
 
Hi all - thanks for the comments... good to know I've got the mix about right - I'll just have to see what I can do about the pick noises on the wood - probably nothing I expect, it's a bit hard to cut and paste when there are no obvious gaps.... oh well.

No problems rayc, knock yourself out.

Cheers
 
Sounds great to me. I think the width and depth of the mix is very nice. If anything stands out to me, it's something about the snare sound...I'm not exactly sure what I'd change, and I'm not a drummer, so I don't really know the best way to describe what I'd rather hear, but to me, the snare needs maybe more bottom or something?

It's a nice tune with great performances, and this is a great mix.

Very Best,

Dave
 
Thanks Dave... I'm going to go back for one more tweak, so I'll look at the snare sound - the curse of virtual drums - I'm never truly happy with snare sounds either..

Henry - no, apart from any other reason, I'm out of tracks... 16 track maximum on my machine so I'd need to submix stuff and that's a whole world of complexity I don't want to get into.. the "drums" are already submixed.. I haven't yet worked out virtual instruments, given that I do the main recording in the AW4416 and the drums in Reaper... I think I'll leave it as is - other songs need attention.

Cheers all, thanks for the positive comments, nice to know I'm in the ballpark re mixing...

Actually, Henry, you just sparked a thought... it'd be relatively easy to submix stereo pairs in Reaper, I guess, after exporting them. One day I'll switch over to DAW software, I guess...
 
Great song, as usual from you. Good performance all around. I think the mix could use some massaging, not enough glue holding it together... but I can't pinpoint any one item that needs improving. It's close, though. Just a little tweaking here and there.

Thanks fopr sharing
 
If I went out and bought this, I wouldn't be returning it and asking for my money back.
It's a lovely track. Very reminiscent of Windwords but more melodic and for that reason, to me, more interesting.
I like the phrase "except sometimes". It's a very 'me' kind of phrase........
 
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